My first thought was “Cecil the Ram” from the only good thing to come out of Un Zud, which was “Footrot Flats”.

Mrs Eyrie is from Un Zud. Thank God for a smart, hard working, loyal, loving, good looking farmer’s daughter.

My first thought was “Cecil the Ram” from the only good thing to come out of Un Zud, which was “Footrot Flats”.

On exercise with the New Zealand military – almost forty years ago now – one of the New Zealanders came from the same patch as the drawer of the “Footrot Flats’ cartoon. He was offered a small fortune to go home, and find out the name of the dog….

… was placed under supervision because at morning coffee he described the faggot festival as “mutton dressed as ram”.

I’ve no idea what placed under supervision even means. (My best guess: “being treated like a naughty child“)
His comment should have got a few wry grins before the next sip of coffee, & been forgotten before the cup emptied.

The pubic service ain’t like the world outside the school grounds.
Hang the project they were working on, I’ve a feeling his joke would have been the biggest event in that dept for that day, possibly that week.

Having mixed with those sort of fellers in Southland, I’ll state there’s an even chance, or better, the name really was a generic; “Dog”

I was betting on “Mongreluselessvookingblakbarsteward” – it’s a Maori term, meaning “Noble and hardworking hound.”

Anyway, dinner at Casa de Zulu is takeaway piazza, washed down with Moet Chandon Imperial champagne..

Sancho Panzer says: March 4, 2023 at 10:20 pm

It was my second year at work and I was in 1956 in the ANZ Bank …

Was it called ANZ back then?

It was in my town.
The branch was in my pub.
The letters ANZ are carved into the stone above the door lintel of the pub, dating from a couple of years before ’56.

I am still not well but just had to get out from mooching around at home.

All good wishes for a full recovery, LizzieB

Platoon just finished. First time I had seen it in its entirety. Powerful, the descent of man into animals.
Charlie Sheen is superb in an all star cast. But you knew that.

So King Chilla has slung Ginger & Whinger out of Frogmore Cottage. Heh heh. Chilla is a King after my own heart.

Huelva is not a tourist destination but their little (free) museum is good, despite no ingles.
Archaeological downstairs, fine art up. Only 500,000 years of human history though.
Most of the fine art seems to have been transferred from Seville which probably have thousands more items not on display.
Huelva is mostly mid to late 20th Century six storey apartment blocks, mine is only three but not in the centre, single bedroom modern comfortable, great for a single or a couple.
There is a cliff just behind us with remnants of demolished houses on the cliff face, with one lonely two storey 19th century building sitting a few meters down to the left.
I suppose it was all substandard and probably in danger of slips in heavy rainfall.
And I was wondering why the cathedral was clearly once the oratory of a convent and away from the city centre, explained by its very recent elevation to cathedral status, built in 1605 and damaged in the 1755 earthquake, in another earthquake a few years later and yet another in 1969.
The convent, now a government building, part of the university, belonged to the Mercedarians whose mission was the ransoming of Christian slaves.
Was mentioned yesterday La Rapida was a safe house for when pirates came visiting.

So King Chilla has slung Ginger & Whinger out of Frogmore Cottage. Heh heh. Chilla is a King after my own heart.

It also means that the Ginger has lost his spot on the Royal Council without being officially sacked.

Smart move Chuck!

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bearesays:

March 4, 2023 at 11:11 pm

Careful with that piazza, Zulu.
They can be quite large.

And the cobblestones can get caught in your teeth.

ES&A?
Ethiopian, Somalian and Arabic Bank?

Does monty have $1.9m in his super?

Peta Credlin:

Labor’s superannuation tax increase is a case study in how not to make policy. First, it’s a broken promise. Second, it wasn’t well thought through. And third, no one can explain it.

The result is a government that looks incompetent as well as dishonest. Ministers aren’t expected to be across every aspect of government policy, especially if there’s been no change to it. But heaven help senior ministers if the government announces a big policy change and they can’t even explain it, let alone defend it.

During the election, the Prime Minister couldn’t have been clearer. Labor, said Anthony Albanese, had no intention of making ANY change to super. It was what he HAD to say, of course, because it was Bill Shorten’s upfront commitments to increase taxes on investors and retirees that had given Scott Morrison his 2019 “miracle” win.

Fast-forward to a fortnight ago, and the Treasurer’s kite-flying speech on superannuation that sparked a week of damaging headlines; followed by the government’s formal announcement last Monday that there would, indeed, be a doubling of the tax paid on the income earned by super balances over $3 million; followed by complete confusion about what this might mean in practice.

And I mean complete confusion. The shambles just got worse as the week wore on and the government’s ignorance of its own system became more obvious. Plainly the government always intended to hit super with more taxes, and plainly has been talking to Treasury, for months, about how to do it. But in the current Labor cabinet, there’s barely anyone who’s ever run a business, and there’s probably no one among the former party bigwigs and union officials with a self-managed super fund, nor among Treasury officials either, who helped cook up this policy.

That’s the trouble when the government announces a sudden change in a complex area; especially one that gravely concerns a small but important section of the community, who study it incessantly, worry about it constantly, and are inherently suspicious of anything government does to raid their nest egg.

Especially when it’s a blatant broken promise – that looks and smells like premeditated deception.

So here’s the still-newish government, thinking it’s got an unassailable poll lead, and that the opposition are unelectable, flying a kite on the left-wing Holy Grail of class warfare, that then has a light bulb moment. Let’s just tax the rich more. Let’s just hit income, on super balances, over $3 million. No one cares about millionaires with $3 million or more in their super, do they? So what could be politically simpler and administratively easier than that?

And in making the announcement, so it would have gone, let’s reinforce how minor this change is by telling people about all the other taxes we might collect, on franking credits, on capital gains tax concession, and even on the family home – which they did – to stress how tiny the $2 billion raised by this really is. Funny how no one had thought about the practical problems.

First, people with more than $3 million in super often have self-managed funds, including property, and, unless it’s actually just been sold, how do you know what it’s really worth? And if it hasn’t been sold, how can you say that its value takes the fund over $3 million without, in effect, taxing an unrealised capital gain? Or in simple terms, the house that hasn’t been sold? Second, every single salary earner has super, so when the politicians break their promises and make a change where they said they wouldn’t, everyone wants to know if it impacts them. Yet the government announced a policy without working out the details first; there’s no legislation yet, not even a working paper.

Hence a series of trainwreck interviews over a week, starting with the Treasurer himself failing to rule out a tax on the family home (and having to be overruled by the PM who no-one now believes tells the truth on super anyway) and culminating with the Deputy PM on Friday, who was asked three times how to calculate unrealised capital gains – and even then, he was still stumped!

Any wonder people are angry because, even if not caught up in this now, they might be in the future because the $3 million cap isn’t indexed to go up with inflation. So while $3 million might seem like a big super balance now, if you’re a young person it’s not. Just think back what a house was worth 30 years ago and what it’s worth now and you will see my point.

Whether it is this broken promise on super, or the broken promise to cut your power bills by $275 dollars a year, or the promise to raise real wages, that can’t be met; this looks more and more like a government that just can’t be trusted.

Jack Posobiec
@JackPosobiec

Russell Brand just went on Bill Maher and burned down Pfizer, BioNTech, crony politicians, media, and war profiteers in the defense industry

Ageism! Hun:

Older public servants are set to be offered generous “early retirement” packages in a desperate bid to reduce staff costs and rein in the State Budget.
The move to pay out mid-tier bureaucrats comes as the Andrews Government scrambles to contain spending in the public sector at the same time as it funds expensive election commitments.
The government’s expenditure review committee has made it clear that health and SEC commitments are untouchable during funding negotiations, but that capital works projects will have to be cut back significantly in some sectors — once pre-election promises are booked.

This is likely to impact portfolios of housing, environment, education and regional development.

“The pressures in the budget are forcing some pretty tense discussions,” a senior public servant said.

Huge cost blowouts on major projects, and the state’s record debt level — forecast to surpass $166bn by 2026 — will likely spark further cutbacks if economic conditions worsen.

A government spokesperson said “governments right around the world are dealing with challenging economic conditions but we’re focused on delivering the projects that Victorians voted for, from education to health, transport and bringing back the SEC”.

The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal government departments are set to apply to the tax office for an allocation of early retirements, with permission required by the ATO due to generous tax concessions associated with the scheme.

The scheme, which first ran in 2021, pays out leave entitlements plus a lump sum of $15,000, as well as two weeks’ pay for every year of service, capped at 30 weeks.

Those who apply must be over a certain age, and are barred from working in the public service for 12 months.

This short period has led to criticisms that it could see a revolving door for some staff, due to the fact the positions retirees had are not made redundant.

The looming reopening of the retirements scheme comes as the Sunday Herald Sun can reveal public service staff numbers have ballooned to more than 58,400 people — up 20,500 since Daniel Andrews swept to power.

Government employee expenses cost taxpayers almost $30.6bn in 2021, up from $18.4bn in the year ending June 2025, (?) according to budget papers.

The Victorian Public Service – which includes those employed by government departments and administrative offices – saw a 17.6 per cent employment spike in 2020-21 alone – the highest increase across the entire public sector workforce, according to the Victorian Public Sector Commission.
This included an extra 3062 fixed term roles at Covid Quarantine Victoria, and more than 2000 new employees across the Department of Health and the Department of Families Fairness and Housing.

More broadly, there are now nearly 80,000 more public sector workers — which includes positions such as teachers, public health nurses, and police — in Victoria since Daniel Andrews won office in 2014.

People Behind Biden Announce Creation of Formal National Surveillance State, Yet No One Seems Bothered

Ha, ha, ha

NYC police want shoppers to remove masks before entering stores

‘No One Can Win this War,’ Claims Viktor Orbán

Sorry, need to reference better. The assertion from my previous comment came from Rita Panahi on this morning’s The Outsiders.

Thanks for that BB.

So, Andrews has discovered he can reduce the size and cost of the public service when needed.

And what is the need? Securing re-election. Using taxpayers’ money to bribe them to vote for him.

But before now he saw no need to save money. Not so he could reduce taxes, not so he could stop racking up so much debt in the taxpayers’ name.

Nope. His political survival is a categorical imperative. The other thing is just a quaint notion, a simplistic childish fancy to be to be left behind in childhood. Not the way of a grown man.

So, Rugg is on $190k?

$160,000 apparently. ($130,000 salary + $30,000 personal allowance)
Though what’s thirty grand when you’re talking, gasp, 70 hr weeks.

callisays:

March 5, 2023 at 9:46 am

Since when are temps in the mid 30’s a “heatwave”?

The magic number used to be the century, 100 Fahrenheit (or a touch under 38 Celsius).
And you would need three days of it before anyone would cry “heatwave!”.

Imagine my shock at finding the cans are held together by a sort of stiff paper maché collar, rather than the usual plastic loop thingy.

In my yoof the thing was to fold the six plastic loops into one single loop then try to pull it apart.
There wasn’t a lot to do back then.

Does monty have $1.9m in his super?

Please. mUnty is upper middle class and finally asset rich. Let’s have no more of these vulgar questions. Pass me a Woodie, please.

miltonf at 9:26

Seems like Vicco has moved into the same phase as in the early 90s when mother russia ran out of OPM. I suppose it was only a question of when.
Must be close. They’re finished. Just need Chalmers and the RBA to knock in the final nails.

C.L. March 4, 2023 at 2:09 pm

Abanese ought to be midly concerned at least. He now has his own Gillardian stalking horse.

Albo will be checking The Lodge for ice picks. He probably skipped that bit as an 18yo Trot.

As a veteran of mostly female workplaces & the dynamics of frumpy, unbangable types having power over very pretty younger chicks, I wouldn’t rule out as an underlying cause; Ryan is at best a “Two – but I’d rather go to the pub” while Rugg is the diametric opposite.

Careful with those inverted commas Little Buddy. First stone and all that.

I used to look forward to Christmas every year, when I would get a new stick and a plastic bucket to rattle it in.

Luxury!
I would get the stick for Christmas but had to wait until my birthday in August for the bucket.

Since you live in the woods Bear, is ‘pass me a Woodie,please’ a euphemism for something?

I am not going to dignify this question with an answer. I’m presuming you will see yourself out.

Crossie, programs like The Project are not “live to air”. They have a few seconds delay and a kill switch.

PML trialled phone-ins some time ago without a kill switch. I rang and suggested Bruce Pascoe should be criminally prosecuted. Noticing the shocked expressions I quickly moved on to matt kean and how the green bureaucrats supporting the bastard should be named and shamed before being fired. That was a step too far and instead of a kill switch they switched off the sound so PML had about 30 seconds of silent stunned mullet expressions before the call was ended. That was the end of joe public being able to ring in to PML. I must say Jacinta was on the panel that night and looked very amused.

It was 40 years ago today

that the Hawke/Keating disaster was inflicted on us.

Hey Dickhead and a Suitable Case for Treatment. How was this a disaster when compared to the disastrous Gough Witless and disastrous Krudd/Gizzard/Krudd years?

You are the disaster here. Just look in the mirror sometime. And grow up.

We was so poor, we lived in a puddle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAdlkunflRs